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   exterminate

   /ɪkˈstəːmɪneɪt/

   verb

   • 1. destroy completely: "after exterminating the entire population, the soldiers set fire to the buildings"
   • ▪ kill (a pest): "they use poison to exterminate moles"

   Word Origin late Middle English (in the sense ‘drive out’): from Latin exterminat- ‘driven out’, from the verb exterminare, from ex- ‘out’ + terminus ‘boundary’. The sense ‘destroy’ (mid 16th century) comes from the Latin of the Vulgate.

   Derivatives

   • 1. exterminatory adjective

   Scrabble Points: 20

   • E

     1

   • X

     8

   • T

     1

   • E

     1

   • R

     1

   • M

     3

   • I

     1

   • N

     1

   • A

     1

   • T

     1

   • E

     1

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